Worst flight ever with p4p I'm still shaking, no control but got it landed

[Meta4]

Would you think considering what happened today, best not to calibrate compass after today, I had to a couple of weeks ago as it was doing the spiral arc flying when you let go of the sticks, even tho it was not asking me to do it in the menu

I'd try it out in a good open area and if it flew straight rather than taking a curved path and could hover without spiraling, I'd consider that a good test and indication the compass is all OK.

 

[Snowwolf]

Ok will try it today

 

[Chesapeake]

Is there a cell tower near the area that could have caused interference?

 

[Snowwolf]

Is there a cell tower near the area that could have caused interference?

None that I could see

 

[Snowwolf]

In the situation the drone was in am I right in thinking, the RTH function would not have worked? If the drone had gone out of site it would have been my last resort

 

[Meta4]

Is there a cell tower near the area that could have caused interference?

At worst, that sort of interference would only swamp the control signal and trigger RTH if signal was lost.
It wouldn't affect flight characteristics but there are very few recorded cases of cell towers having any effect at all.

 

[Snowwolf]

Finally got the data of the flight from ipad (link below) do you think I should have switched to atti mode as soon as the drone started misbehaving ? if I had switched to atti mode would it have only flown as I asked it to? or would it have still carried on going mad because of the bad interference ?

Here is a link to the report

Phantom Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

 

[Spike_151]

Finally got the data of the flight from ipad (link below) do you think I should have switched to atti mode as soon as the drone started misbehaving ? if I had switched to atti mode would it have only flown as I asked it to? or would it have still carried on going mad because of the bad interference ?

Here is a link to the report

Phantom Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

You have lost GPS satellites pretty much from one minute into the flight, and towards the end when you got down to no satellites and were still in GPS mode it switched into Atti mode. Id say either atmospheric or magnetic interference as your satellite count was going up and down like a yoyo.

 

[Snowwolf]

You have lost GPS satellites pretty much from one minute into the flight, and towards the end when you got down to no satellites and were still in GPS mode it switched into Atti mode. Id say either atmospheric or magnetic interference as your satellite count was going up and down like a yoyo.

It was not one of my best flights LOL I have sent the data off to DJI see what they say

 

[spirytus]

Here's the piss poor spec sheet for your GPS tracker (which uses GSM to call back home).

http://en.rf-gsm.com/uploads/soft/140407/RF-V16-Spec.pdf

No FCC disclaimer tells me it's probably not tested/approved for use in NA so without an RF analyzer who knows what kind of electrical interference this POS unit puts out.

Occam's razor; Get rid of it and try your flight again.

 

[spirytus]

It was not one of my best flights LOL I have sent the data off to DJI see what they say

They'll tell you that attaching any type of accessory to your phantom is not supported and is the likely cause of the interference you encountered... What do you expect them to say?

If you can duplicate the same behavior without any payload than you have a ledge to stand on...

 

[F3honda4me]

The text flight log reaffirms what I posted back on page 1. Either tremendous interference or a serious hardware issue. You had IMU errors in your DAT files too.

At this point I think we are beating a dead horse a bit.

Take the tracker off, fly in a known good area. If it flies fine then you have your answer. If it doesn't and GPS still loses satellites constantly, then it's time to send it back to DJI.

 

[eaglegoaltender]

I'm surprised no-one has suggested using the lflight data viewer at Phantomhelp.com.
That's my favourite tool for a quick and easy analysis of "interesting" flights.
Go to https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/

Actually I did mention to the OP about using Phantomhelp.com and posted the log viewer link also in my post #36 - you and msinger seem to be the go to guys with these kinds of issues for a resolve.

 

[Mitel]

Sorry you had a scary flight, but thank you for uploading the data - it's good learning for a newbie like me

What I find particularly strange is that the craft is so quick to switch to ATTI mode. Surely the IMU provides the primary positioning and is periodically updated by the GPS? I have a 12 year old 'generation 2' satnav in my car and it is still pretty much spot on after a 1500 meter tunnel so I would have thought the P4P IMU could track for a few seconds.

I am not relating to this case, but I can image ATTI flying could be pretty challenging for someone like myself who hasn't flown drones before. I used to fly RC helicopters and that was hard enough at shoulder height and 15 feet away. I can't imagine trying to orient a drone at 400 feet that looks identical in all directions!

Edit: Removed bit about interference because that is already covered.

 

[Snowwolf]

I took it back out today for a test flight, first without the tracker attached, I hovered the bird, seemed quite stable, then on the screen it came up compass switch, this happened when I first got the drone too?
I took the drone up 40ft then flew forwards and let go of sticks, it started doing the half circle movement, I tried it in reverse and when it stopped it done the same half moon sequence, I decided to bring it down and do a compass calibration.
Calibration performed ok but it still doing the half moon stopping, i then decided to put the tracker back on, I done a few fly again, it flew the same as without tracker so it was not that that caused the problems yesterday.

I have had a reply back from DJI after sending them the data files of yesterday's flight and they want me to send it back to them, it has never flown as stable as my P4 and I have always had that half moon stopping manoeuvre and after yesterday's flight which to be honest was horrendous and really did not think it was going to end, do you think I should send it back? I think it's probably a good idea

 

[lickitysplit11111]

You don't need to calibrate anything every time you fly. In fact you shouldn't calibrate anything unless there is a need to. Not even the compass. The compass works differently in the newer drones than previous. You no longer need to calibrate compass just because you fly someplace new.

Even if you get the prompt ?


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots

 

[Snowwolf]

Even if you get the prompt ?


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots

The times it has come up in the past ( compass switch ) it has never ever told me to perform a compass calibration but some said on one of these forums that compass switch warning is when a compass has failed in some way and swapped to the other compass ?and swapped over to the second compass ?

 

[Fred Guernsey]

I had a similar problem a few days ago - not as bad as yours though - drone was all over the place at hover level. It was quite close to some cars parked near the beach where i was launching from. Moved the P3A to 40 or so feet away and problem did not re happen again. I'm putting it down to the cars/steel


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

 

[eaglegoaltender]

do you think I should send it back? I think it's probably a good idea

I would agree with you 100% as to sending it back - not worth the risk of losing it.

I have read a few posts on other forums (DJI) where others are experiencing the same as you are.

I'm beginning to think it is an issue with the on board GPS module for the P4P and even some Mavic flyers are experiencing issues very similar to you.

Since they asked you to return it - that make me think even more along the lines of an internal issue with the GPS module.

Best of luck - wise choice to return it.

 

[F3honda4me]

I took it back out today for a test flight, first without the tracker attached, I hovered the bird, seemed quite stable, then on the screen it came up compass switch, this happened when I first got the drone too?
I took the drone up 40ft then flew forwards and let go of sticks, it started doing the half circle movement, I tried it in reverse and when it stopped it done the same half moon sequence, I decided to bring it down and do a compass calibration.
Calibration performed ok but it still doing the half moon stopping, i then decided to put the tracker back on, I done a few fly again, it flew the same as without tracker so it was not that that caused the problems yesterday.

I have had a reply back from DJI after sending them the data files of yesterday's flight and they want me to send it back to them, it has never flown as stable as my P4 and I have always had that half moon stopping manoeuvre and after yesterday's flight which to be honest was horrendous and really did not think it was going to end, do you think I should send it back? I think it's probably a good idea

edit: if DJI wants you to send it back, to me that confirms its probably a hardware issue!